For the first time in forever, Dayak Communities in Talekoi, Bundar and villages around celebrated the International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples. For the whole week from 4th-9 August, the village held a small festival. Children were dancing every day, practicing their Dadas dance, Giring-Giring dance and Bahalai dance. Women were cooking traditional snacks such as lamang (sticky rice cooked inside bamboo) and kakiak duyu (sticky rice flour made into small balls and cooked with coconut milk and brown sugar), while men of the village worked on preparation.
There were some traditional games competition held as well. Bakahing or bagasing is one of the most common traditional games in Indonesia. A piece of wood made into a spinning top. There were two different style in bakahing. First one is tanir, the players compete to spin the gasing the longest. Another one is nupu, in which the players are allowed to throw their gasing by aiming into someone else’s gasing and even break it.
Balogo, is one of the most famous among Dayak traditional games. It’s almost like playing a billiard using pieces of coconut shell as the targets and a piece of long stick to hit them.
Another game is bajarangkang, or called enggrang in Bahasa. The stilts made from wood. The players compete in short run while using the stilts.
Beside games, women of the villages held an indigenous food exhibition. There were seven groups who cook different kinds of traditional dishes- all was amazingly delicious! Most of the ingredients taken from their own garden while bird meat, fishes and shrimps were caught by themselves. It made the food more specials since all ingredients were organic and super healthy. After the reviews from jury, villagers ate together.
There was also Tanuhui, or storytelling stage. Six storytellers told a folk story in Dayak Maanyan culture. All stories were so funny, fascinated and meaningful as they reminded young generations about moral, values and wisdoms from our ancestors. It’s been a while since people gather to hear tanuhui. It made the moment as one of the event highlights.
A festival never completes without a night celebration. On Auguts 9th at 6.30pm, people from villagers around gather nearby the Balai. The event started with Fashion Show in which women were showcasing traditional outfit while mimicking the activities in Dayak daily life. There were 23 participants joined. The first winner was a group of three called ABG (refer to the name of their late grandfather), who showcased the outfit while nikep (scooping small fish) and mintan (fishing by using stick and reel). On the second place was a duo who showcased the outfit while planting rice mi’ehek (making hole on the ground using pole) and mu’au (throwing the seeds into the holes). Not only an exciting fashion show, there were also performance from the kids of the village who danced, folk songs from local singers, nanrik nampak (dance together by the villagers). Before closing, there was a declaration on the rights of the indigenous people read by leaders of the village. To wrap up the event, we lighted up the fireworks while shouting the Dayak shouts.
Happy International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples from Dayak community!
